- Consumer's Choice Award 2019
- Consumer's Choice Award 2020
- Consumer's Choice Award 2021
- Consumer's Choice Award 2022
- Consumer's Choice Award 2023
- Consumer's Choice Award 2024
Partnering with an outside general counsel in Orland Hills offers your business a flexible legal ally without the overhead of a full-time in-house team. Our approach focuses on practical guidance, timely contract reviews, risk assessment, and clear milestones that align with your growth goals. Whether you are launching a new product, negotiating supplier terms, or navigating regulatory changes, having a trusted legal partner helps you move decisively while preserving cash flow and strategic focus.
At Frankfort Law Group, we tailor our outside general counsel services to fit mid-market and growth-oriented companies in Cook County and beyond. We emphasize accessibility, transparent pricing, and proactive counsel that reduces surprises. By integrating with your leadership and finance teams, we help you maintain compliance, manage vendor relationships, and structure governance practices that support long-term success. Our aim is to be a steady, reliable resource you turn to whenever a legal decision could impact your bottom line.
Choosing an outside general counsel arrangement provides strategic advantages beyond a traditional law firm. It offers scalable support, faster response times, and continuity across corporate matters. You gain consistent advice on contracts, risk management, and regulatory obligations, while avoiding the overhead of maintaining an internal legal department. This model helps startups to scale and established firms to optimize operations, with a partner who understands your industry, your people, and your goals.
Frankfort Law Group brings a practical, hands-on approach to outside general counsel services. Our team emphasizes collaborative problem solving, clear communication, and measurable outcomes. We work closely with leadership to prioritize issues, document decisions, and implement scalable processes for contract management, compliance, and corporate governance. While our focus is pragmatic, the firm’s broad experience across industries helps guide risk-aware choices, from day-to-day operations to growth initiatives.
Outside general counsel is a flexible, embedded solution that blends legal advice with business stewardship. It provides defined access to senior attorneys who understand the company’s strategy and risk tolerance. The arrangement supports ongoing legal operations, enabling timely contract reviews, policy updates, and governance guidance that keeps the business compliant and competitive. By placing legal leadership at the center of decision making, you can pursue opportunities confidently while navigating complex regulatory landscapes.
Rather than reactive, one-off transactions, this model emphasizes proactive planning and sustained counsel. We monitor changes in employment, data privacy, intellectual property, and procurement practices, translating these concerns into practical action steps. The goal is to reduce bottlenecks, improve contract cycles, and align legal strategy with corporate objectives so leadership can focus on growth, customer value, and operational efficiency.
Outside general counsel refers to a long-term legal partnership where a trusted attorney or team becomes an extension of your executive office. The relationship focuses on strategic counsel, risk management, and practical guidance across corporate matters. Rather than handling isolated tasks, the OGC functions as a coordinated resource, helping steer legal priorities, support governance structures, and provide timely advice on contracts, compliance, and business initiatives.
Key elements of an effective OGC relationship include ongoing contract management, governance support, risk assessment, and responsive legal operations. Processes involve structured intake, prioritized work plans, proactive reviews, and clear documentation of decisions. The objective is to provide steady, business-focused counsel that anticipates issues, facilitates timely approvals, and minimizes disruption. By standardizing processes, leadership can rely on consistent guidance aligned with company policy and strategic goals.
Glossary terms translate legal concepts into plain language for leaders and teams. The section below defines common terms related to outside general counsel, contract management, governance, and regulatory compliance, helping readers understand priorities, risks, and opportunities without legal jargon. Clear definitions enable faster decision making and better collaboration across departments.
Contract management: The ongoing process of creating, reviewing, negotiating, executing, and monitoring contracts to ensure obligations are met and value is realized. It includes tracking renewal dates, performance milestones, and renewal rights to protect commercial interests and keep relationships productive.
Governance: A framework of rules, practices, and processes that directs and controls how an organization makes decisions, manages risks, and delivers value. A solid governance structure defines roles, oversight mechanisms, and escalation paths, ensuring accountability across leadership, staff, and third parties. In an outside general counsel arrangement, governance support includes policy development, board communications, contract review standards, and compliance monitoring.
Regulatory compliance: The act of meeting all applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards governing a company’s operations. This includes privacy, employment, tax, environmental, and securities requirements, as well as sector-specific rules. An external legal partner helps establish compliance programs, conduct risk assessments, prepare policy updates, and implement training to minimize exposure.
Vendor risk management: A process to evaluate and monitor suppliers, contractors, and service providers to ensure they meet security, reliability, and compliance standards. This includes due diligence, contract controls, performance reviews, and ongoing oversight. An outside general counsel helps integrate vendor risk practices into the broader legal and governance program.
Many businesses face a choice among hiring in-house counsel, retaining a traditional law firm, or engaging an outside general counsel. Each option has distinct costs, responsiveness, and coverage. In our view, a tailored OGC arrangement combines strategic leadership with practical support, offering scalable resources and continuity. This balance helps you respond quickly to commercial needs, manage risk, and maintain governance standards without the fixed overhead of a full internal team.
Small, well-defined projects or pilot programs can benefit from a focused legal input without committing to full outsourcing. A limited approach provides timely guidance on key terms, due diligence, or risk assessment, enabling the business to move forward confidently while preserving flexibility. This method reduces ramp-up time and helps validate the value of ongoing external counsel through measurable outcomes.
During peak periods of activity, such as mergers, fundraising, or major contract negotiations, a limited approach can scale up quickly. It connects leadership with senior members who can prioritize risks, streamline decision making, and ensure consistency across deals. The goal is to provide effective support when needed while keeping the relationship lean and focused on business results.
When business operations become complex, ongoing legal oversight helps prevent costly missteps and aligns strategy with regulatory expectations. A comprehensive legal service provides integrated guidance across contracts, governance, compliance, and risk management, ensuring consistency and speed in decision making. This approach supports sustainable growth by reducing friction in daily activities and preparing the organization for longer-term initiatives.
As companies scale, multiple departments generate interdependent issues that require coordinated solutions. A full-service external counsel model offers centralized policy development, board liaison, and cross-functional coordination. It helps establish repeatable processes, strengthens risk management, and keeps leadership aligned with governance standards while preserving agility.
An integrated legal approach provides consistency, efficiency, and foresight across the organization. By centralizing counsel, teams gain faster access to strategic guidance, uniform contract practices, and clear escalation paths. This helps shorten cycle times, improve compliance, and reduce the likelihood of conflicting advice. The result is a more predictable legal environment that supports growth, protects value, and reinforces governance.
With a comprehensive plan, leadership can optimize resources, control costs, and align legal work with business objectives. Ongoing attention to risk management and policy development fosters resilience in operations, protects reputational interests, and enables proactive decision making. The overall effect is smoother operations, better contract outcomes, and stronger relationships with customers, suppliers, and regulators.
Consistent guidance reduces ambiguity and improves teamwork across departments. When legal input is integrated early in planning, departments can anticipate risk, align with policy, and execute with confidence. The predictable support from an external counsel improves collaboration and reduces last-minute revisions during negotiations.
Access to a broad network of knowledge and practical resources helps resolve complex issues more efficiently. The ongoing relationship supports training, governance updates, and performance tracking that keep the company ahead of regulatory changes. The outcome is improved resilience, steadier operations, and a stronger foundation for growth.
Start with a clearly defined scope and a practical work plan. Identify the core legal priorities, response times, and the metrics you will use to measure progress. This foundation helps align expectations, reduces scope creep, and ensures that both sides share a common understanding of outcomes.
Track the value of the OGC relationship through defined metrics, including cycle times for contracts, risk mitigation, and compliance milestones. Regular reporting ensures leadership can assess efficiency and plan for future needs.
A flexible external legal partner can reduce risk, improve efficiency, and support growth by aligning legal work with business goals. This collaborative model helps you manage contracts, vendor relationships, compliance, and governance while maintaining cost control and strategic focus.
By aligning legal strategy with your business strategy, leadership gains a trusted partner who can adapt to changing needs, scale with your company, and provide steady guidance across critical decisions.
Businesses often turn to an outside general counsel when facing ongoing contract negotiations, complex vendor arrangements, regulatory changes, mergers and acquisitions, or governance challenges that require coordinated leadership and timely, practical advice.
In ongoing contract negotiations, having a reliable external partner helps streamline terms, align risk allocation, and ensure that commercial objectives are met while protecting the company’s interests.
When managing multiple vendors and regulatory obligations, an external counsel provides guidance on policy consistency, supplier risk, data privacy considerations, and governance alignment to keep operations compliant and efficient.
For growth initiatives such as market expansion, product launches, or capital events, external counsel offers coordinated support to manage legal risks and enable timely execution.
Frankfort Law Group offers practical, grounded legal guidance designed to help your organization navigate everyday challenges. We focus on clear communication, practical process improvement, and timely support when you need it most. Our goal is to enable you to operate confidently while staying compliant and efficient.
Our team combines broad business law experience with hands-on problem solving to deliver valuable support to growing companies in Orland Hills and the surrounding area. We prioritize practical guidance, transparent processes, and accessible communication to keep your legal matters moving forward smoothly.
With a partner who integrates with leadership and finance teams, you gain proactive legal stewardship that anticipates issues, fosters collaboration, and helps you execute with clarity. Our approach emphasizes predictable service levels, reasonable pricing, and a commitment to achieving practical outcomes for your business.
Ready to discuss your needs? Contact us to explore how an outside general counsel arrangement can support your goals and protect your interests.
From initial alignment to ongoing support, our process is designed to deliver steady, business-focused guidance. We start by understanding your objectives, risk profile, and governance framework, then translate these into practical plans. As work progresses, we maintain open lines of communication, document decisions, and adjust priorities to reflect changing needs and opportunities. The result is a reliable, collaborative partnership that supports growth and protects value.
Initial scoping and goals are clarified in our first engagements. We gather context from leadership, review existing policies, and identify high-priority issues to create a practical plan that aligns with your business objectives. This phase sets expectations and establishes a transparent framework for action.
During discovery, we collect essential information about contracts, governance structures, compliance obligations, and current risks. We also map decision makers and establish preferred communication channels to ensure efficient collaboration and timely reactions to incoming requests.
With scope defined, we set milestones and allocate responsibilities. This clarity helps teams plan, manage workload, and track progress against agreed timelines while maintaining flexibility for adjustments as priorities evolve.
In this phase, we implement the agreed plan with practical workflows and policy updates. We provide ongoing counsel on contracts, compliance programs, governance matters, and risk mitigation, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and regulatory requirements.
We guide contract negotiations, coordinate approvals, and implement policy updates to ensure consistency. The focus is on clear terms, predictable processes, and efficient execution that supports business operations.
We perform governance checks, risk assessments, and compliance monitoring to detect issues early. This enables leadership to respond quickly and make informed decisions that protect value and reputation.
The final phase emphasizes performance review, ongoing optimization, and renewal planning. We summarize outcomes, capture lessons learned, and prepare for future initiatives while preserving flexibility for evolving needs.
We review the work completed, measure outcomes, and identify opportunities to improve processes. This helps ensure continuous improvement and a clear path for future engagements.
We plan for renewal, expansion, or adjustment of scope to keep pace with growth. This ensures ongoing alignment with your strategic priorities and governance standards.
At the Frankfort Law Group, we take great pride in our commitment to personal service. Clients come to us because they have problems, and they depend upon us to help them find solutions. We take these obligations seriously. When you meet with us, we know that you are only doing so because you need help. Since we started our firm in northeast Illinois, we have focused on providing each of our clients with personal attention. You do not have to be afraid to tell us your story. We are not here to judge you or make you feel ashamed for seeking help. Our only goal is to help you get results and move past your current legal problems.
At the Frankfort Law Group, we take great pride in our commitment to personal service. Clients come to us because they have problems, and they depend upon us to help them find solutions. We take these obligations seriously. When you meet with us, we know that you are only doing so because you need help. Since we started our firm in northeast Illinois, we have focused on providing each of our clients with personal attention. You do not have to be afraid to tell us your story. We are not here to judge you or make you feel ashamed for seeking help. Our only goal is to help you get results and move past your current legal problems.
Outside general counsel acts as a sustained legal partner who understands your business goals and the regulatory environment. It provides strategic advice, drafts and reviews important contracts, and supports governance with consistent guidance. This arrangement helps you stay aligned with growth plans while maintaining compliance and prudent risk management. In Orland Hills, you can expect clear communication, practical steps, and a steady hand to navigate complex commercial matters.
Pricing for outside general counsel typically blends flexible monthly retainers with defined activity charges. Clients appreciate predictable pricing that scales with need, providing access to senior counsel without the overhead of a full-time internal team. We discuss scope upfront and adjust as requirements evolve so you know what to expect month to month.
A wide range of industries benefits from an outside general counsel arrangement, including manufacturing, technology, retail, healthcare, and professional services. The common thread is a need for scalable legal leadership that can handle contracts, compliance, and governance while adapting to changing market conditions. An OGC helps organizations stay compliant, manage risk, and move strategic initiatives forward with confidence.
Many clients can begin with an OGC within a few weeks, depending on scope and onboarding requirements. The process typically involves a kickoff, data collection, and alignment on priorities, followed by a phased plan for contract review, governance, and compliance activities. A lean start allows you to realize early benefits while we finalize longer-term engagement details.
Outside general counsel handles a broad spectrum of matters, including contract management, governance, compliance programs, employment issues, data privacy, intellectual property, and supplier relationships. The goal is to provide integrated guidance that supports day-to-day operations and strategic initiatives alike, with continuity across teams and projects.
Yes. An OGC partner typically interfaces with leadership and finance teams to align legal work with business objectives, budget expectations, and strategic plans. Regular touchpoints and joint reviews help ensure that legal guidance supports operational decisions and financial goals.
Risk management in an OGC model relies on proactive monitoring, defined governance processes, and ongoing policy updates. Regular risk assessments, contract reviews, and escalation protocols help identify issues early and allow leadership to respond swiftly with coordinated actions.
Engagement for ongoing contract management typically begins with an intake to catalog contracts, renewal dates, and performance metrics. We establish routine review cycles, approval workflows, and renewal reminders to keep contracts current and enforceable while supporting business objectives.
Yes. The scope of services can be tailored to your needs, including more or less emphasis on contract work, governance, compliance programs, or data privacy. The engagement is designed to scale with your growth and adapt to changing priorities.
Success is measured through tangible outcomes such as shorter contract cycle times, clearer risk allocation, improved compliance posture, and better governance processes. Regular reporting and objective milestones help leadership assess value and adjust strategies as needed.